Differential gene expression of rice two-component signaling elements during reproductive development and regulation by abiotic stress.

The two-component signaling elements have been implicated in diverse cellular processes in plants. Earlier, we reported the identification, characterization and expression analysis of type-A response regulators in rice. In this study, we have comprehensively analyzed the expression profile of all the two-component signaling elements identified in rice at various stages of vegetative and reproductive development by employing microarray analysis. Most of the components are expressed in all the developmental stages analyzed. A few of these were found to be specifically expressed during certain stages of seed development, suggesting their role in embryo and endosperm development. In addition, some of these components express differentially under various abiotic stress conditions, indicating their involvement at various levels of hierarchy in abiotic stress signaling.